TMZ brought the news to light last week that the Modern Family star Ariel Winter had been placed under the guardianship of her older sister Shanelle Workman, after accusing her mother, Chrystal Workman, of emotional and physical abuse. This week, as more testimonies come forward in support of both sides of the argument, the whole thing seems incredibly tangled and no one outside the drama can tell where the truth lies.

According to a source that worked on The Chaperone, a film in which Winter co-starred, Winter's mother was controlling and overly critical, making comments to the directors and writers. She also, apparently, bossed around the production assistants. However, the source added that her behaviour didn't seem abusive. Chrystal has also accused Ariel's boyfriend, Cameron Palatas of statutory rape, after having found the 18 year old in bed with Ariel, who is just 14. Now, Sterling Beaumon, a close friend of Winter has said that she is "She's in a much better situation now" living with her sister, which seems to imply that the accusations are true. He added "I can say that [Ariel is] not lying ... there's no reason for her to lie about something like this."

As yet there has been no public statement from Ariel, her own publicists or anyone from Modern Family. Although we certainly hope the accusations aren't true, for now we'll have to keep speculating, and merely hope that wherever Ariel is she's safe and happy.